On Thursday President Trump’s administration held a conference to discuss the opioid epidemic. Chris Cornell’s widow Vicky appeared on MSNBC Live to discuss the issue, as her husband relapsed on prescription drugs before his death. Former Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Bill Clinton Barry McCaffrey was also interviewed.
In the segment a clip of First Lady Melania Trump speaking at the White House played. She said to the conference, “Thank you again for your hard work and commitment to this topic. You’re all making a real difference, and I look forward to looking at the important action items that everyone will take away from today’s summit.”
Vicky Cornell then said, “I think that we have a deadly epidemic that is taking 174 lives a day, and that’s due to drug overdoses alone, that doesn’t take into account drug and alcohol related deaths. It would be like a plane crash every single day, there would be outrage, and it’s time for us to voice our outrage and do something about this epidemic.”
MSNBC then showed a graphic that said the White House budget proposal adds an additional $3 billion in fiscal year 2018, and an additional $10 billion in fiscal year 2019 to fight the opioid epidemic.
McCaffrey then said, “We’re really proud that Vicky Cornell has joined the board of advisors for Addiction Policy Forum. The tragedy of this ongoing overdose epidemic. It was 64,000 dead last year from drug overdoses. I’m a little bit concerned, first of all I’m glad that the White House is paying attention to it, and that the First Lady has opened a conference.
They’ve assembled a lot of people who care about the issue. At the end of the day we care about money and strategy, and we haven’t yet released the new national drug policy strategy. The Christie commision did a great job outlining the issues, where is the leadership? There’s an acting drug policy director, an acting CDC director, an acting DEA director, we’re just not paying enough to the biggest public health crisis we’ve had.”
Chris Cornell died by suicide last May, and Vicky Cornell has said that he had relapsed on prescription drugs which led to his death.
WATCH: @vickycornell , widow of rock star Chris Cornell, calls out the lack of nationwide outrage and action over the opioid epidemic.
"It's time for us to voice our outrage and do something about this epidemic." pic.twitter.com/AFJPBBA5TI
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 1, 2018
